‘X-Men ’97’ Head Director Talks Episode 5 Deaths: “The decision was never finite”

‘X-Men ’97’ premiered as a major hit for Marvel Studios, fans generally liked the nostalgic vibe and continuation of the original storyline but with more grit and punch to it. Then, everything changed with the release of Episode 5.

Episode 5 provided a heartwrenching moment, Genosha was attacked and some of the oldest established mutants were killed off. This wasn’t an easy decision to make. Beau DeMayo explained what the point of the episode was, it was basically an emotionally painful rug pull that is supposed to remind you that nowhere is safe. Now head director and producer reveal that some other mutants were in consideration for elimination for the sake of advancing the story.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Castorena was asked if Gambit and Magneto are officially dead, and he did confirm that we will no longer see those characters on the screen, but the decision to do that wasn’t easy to make:

Oh, absolutely. The decision was never finite, like, “We’re doing this, we’re killing so and so and that’s it.” This might scare fans, but it changed a bit, it bounced around on who it would be because for sake of story, for sake of pushing character arcs and tying everything in, based on where story trajectory was going, [it] was based on what character it was going to be. But ultimately, obviously, we landed on Gambit and, Magneto. We know someone, a.k.a. Rogue, who is, especially in our show, who was very much intertwined with both

Castorena also foreshadowed that there will be drastic consequences following those deaths, Beau DeMayo also commented on social media that episodes 8-10 are truly when s***** will go down:

I implore audiences to ponder and be curious about what that would do to someone of Roque’s caliber and potentially, I would say focus less on what we have lost and I would focus on more who or what lies ahead, if that makes sense for you. But ultimately, at the end of the day, Gambit and Magneto are dead and we’ll have to watch the series unfold to further understand what those consequences are going to be for not just for our team but for potentially for the rest of the world.

Considering that Rogue is most affected by these deaths, we’re likely to expect major fallout on her behalf, and who knows what’s going to start. Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!